virtualization.info Editors

Webinar: Virtualization and the Next Generation Data Center

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Virtual Strategy Magazine is going to host an interesting webinar about virtualization upcoming trends, featuring two special speakers: Elsie Wahlig, Platform Software Architect, AMD, and Michael Grandinetti, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Virtual Iron Software.

The webinar, scheduled for 9th February will be about:

  • The latest virtualization technologies being used to manage industry-standard hardware and the latest blade systems.
  • The enabling technologies behind data center virtualization including AMD64® and AMD virtualization technology incorporating chip-assisted virtualization.
  • Running enterprise-class applications on virtual infrastructure
  • Rapidly provisioning and redeploying applications as business needs dictate
  • Using virtualization to create dynamic infrastructure to manage workloads and deliver capacity on demand
  • Consolidating server hardware and software licenses
  • Centrally managing virtual computers and physical servers

Register for it here (and do it fast since there are just 100 seats).

Update: Recorded event is available here.

Open source waits for a Xen moment in 2006

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Quoting from SearchOpenSource:

…So why is Xen so important, and why could it be an open source force in 2006 and beyond?

The people dismissing or touting Xen’s promise need to look at Xen from both sides now, says Tony Iams, senior analyst for Rye Brook, N.Y.-based IDEAS International.
Xen, Iams said, is early in its development and will require at least until the end of 2006 to mature. At that point, it should be able to compete with established commercial virtualization products like VMware.

It’s a mistake to dismiss Xen as just neat technology or compare it to entirely different applications, such as SWsoft’s Virtual Private Servers, according to Iams. “I don’t know anyone involved with virtualization applications who are not taking Xen seriously,” he said. “Yes, Xen just shipped 3.0, but like all open source there is a specific staging process.”…

Read the whole story at source.

VMware announced VMworld 2006 date

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This year the largest and most famous virtualization event in the world is coming in Los Angeles, California, USA.
VMware set 3 days for the conference from 7 to 9 November.

At today no details are available on breakout sessions but I’m quite probable the company will officially present the (rumored) delayed ESX Server 3.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0.
Otherwise they could surprise everybody annoncing an expected GSX Server 4.0…

Monitor the official VMworld 2006 site or read your favorite blog for updates.

Companies push Linux partitioning effort

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Quoting from News.com:

SWsoft is trying to get OpenVZ made part of the mainstream Linux kernel–the software at the heart of the operating system–and a part of the major commercial Linux versions, said Kirill Korotaev, a project manager at the Herndon, Va.-based company.

In this, it has a major ally: Red Hat, the top seller of the open-source operating system, which plans to add the software to its free Fedora version of Linux for enthusiasts.
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Now an open-source alternative to VMware is arriving, Xen, whose hypervisor is developed by start-up XenSource with support by major server makers and Linux suppliers.

Technically, Xen and OpenVZ are complementary; the first lets several independent operating systems run on a server, while the second subdivides a single instance. But in practice, their similar goals means there is some overlap…

Read the whole article at source.

Microsoft working with Apple on future of Virtual PC

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After speculating few days ago about eventual MacOS X guest virtualization a news about MacOS host virtualization surfaced.

Quoting from MacNN:

…Microsoft said it is working with Apple to bring Virtual PC to the new Intel-architecture, although it didn’t provide details about the release date. The company, however, said that it would not run under Rosetta, Apple’s emulation environment that allows older PowerPC programs to run on Intel-based Macs.

The company said that it would wait on receipt of the new shipping machines to better evaluate Virtual PC for Intel-Macs…

Read the whole article at source.

How to stress test virtual machines

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Performances are the greatest concerns CIO/CTO usually have approaching virtualization.

You surely would compare a virtual machine performance against a physical server, but you could also be in need of exploring how different virtualization technologies perform.

The first aspect you should test is I/O performances: physical raw partitions, proprietary filesystems, remoted SANs systems, local virtual IDE or SCSI disk subsystem. All of these configurations should be tested and compared with each other and against physical machines I/O performances.

Another second aspect you could test is network performances since virtual network adapters devices can handle traffic in different ways and be more or less efficient.

The best way to stress test a VM is to use standard tool for physical machines stress testing.

And just in case you are new to this practice below I compiled a list of great, ready to go, free tools:

Memory reliability

I/O performances

Network performances

I found Intel IOMeter and Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool both great for stress tests.

You could also take a look at a new interesting liveCD Linux distribution, StressLinux, providing a complete stressing test suite.

If you are going to test VMware ESX performances you should also absolutely check the VMware ESX Server Performance Troubleshooting lab manual released at VMworld 2006.

Virtual Iron to embrace Sun Galaxy Servers, Microsoft Windows

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Quoting from CRN:

Virtual Iron has joined Sun Microsystems’ Partner Advantage Program and plans to offer its platform on Microsoft Windows next summer.

The Lowell, Mass.-based company, which develops advanced data-center virtualization and management software for Linux, recently announced support for Sun’s new x64-based Galaxy servers based on AMD processors.
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Currently, the platform runs on Linux only but will be offered on Windows next summer, Virtual Iron executives said.

Read the whole article at source.

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 will not support Windows Computer Cluster Server 2003

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Microsoft is preparing to launch its first high-performance computing operating system under the name of Windows Computer Cluster Server (CSS) 2003.

Company customers could evaluate this product a great platform to run virtual machines with Virtual Server 2005 R2 and are looking at it very carefully.
But they will be disappointed: System Requirements page states the product will require an x64 architecture to work. And while Virtual Server 2005 R2 supports x64 host OSes it won’t provide any support for x64 guest OSes.

So, at least until Microsoft introduces some changes with the expected Virtual Server codename vNext, there will be no way to use Windows Computer Cluster Server 2003 as a Microsoft high-performance virtualization platform.

Microsoft experts confirmed this in an official chat today:

Q: Is it possible to use virtualization software (either VMware or MS Virtual Server) to create a Virtual Server lab to develop solutions on one or 2 physical machines prior migrating to a real cluster?

A: Unfortunately the current Virtual Server product only supports 32-bit guest OS and CCS requires x64 Server.

A: The main problem is that we require x86 compatible 64 bit hardware, and 64 bit guest OS support in both VMware and MS Virtual Server is weak or not there. When there is better 64 bit guest OS it should work. But it really is an evaluation scenario – not a deployment scenario.